Thursday photo #202

This has been the first of a few incredibly busy weeks here. Life does seem to be full of contrasts. For months, I can work exclusively from home and speak to nobody. Then I end up with a month or so of travelling quite a bit around the country and being uncharacteristically sociable.

The eye patch

It had been noted a couple of times at the eye hospital that Libby’s left eye was weaker than the right. This was corrected by her glasses. Sadly, the last time we went, the sight in her left eye had deteriorated. I think I’d always known that she would have to wear a patch on her eye at some point. But I’d always hoped she would get away with wearing it at home instead of school.

Luckily, as soon as patches were mentioned Libby took it in her stride. She understood exactly why she needed them and that they would work better if she wore them to school. So as soon as we got home, she asked to wear her patch. It needs to be on for between two and four hours a day every day. She has decided to wear it to school in the mornings and take it off at lunchtime. She even chose to wear it to a party on Sunday so she could show her friends before wearing it to school.

Gratitude

My greatest fear for my daughters is that they will be bullied at school. There’s no worse feeling than being singled out, being different. Being an outsider. Libby is an incredibly confident girl who can be loud, bossy and overbearing. She doesn’t have one particular friend in her class at school but they all seem to mix in well as a group. Still, I couldn’t help but worry that sending her in with a big patch over one eye would make her a target.

I’m so glad to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Libby came back from the party telling me how much everybody liked her eye patch. Nobody had laughed at her or treated her differently. In fact, they all seemed genuinely interested and made her feel special – in a good way.

I read sad stories on social media every day about children struggling to find their place. Bullies making them feel sad and small. I know deep down that there’s no way my girls will get through childhood without facing some of this. But Libby’s little class of five and six year olds are stronger than that. Instead of kicking her when she was down, they have helped her up. And I couldn’t be more grateful to them and to the families who brought them up to be so kind and thoughtful.

I can’t believe that in March, I’m posting yet another photo of the girls in the snow. We didn’t have much time to get out in it on Sunday, but in the late afternoon we all headed off to go sledging. We keep telling the girls that this will be the last time until next year. But apparently the weather forecast is predicting a white Easter. Did I mention we’re going camping over Easter??